Max Verstappen ignored all of the distractions surrounding his problematic Red Bull team to take pole position on Friday for Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri finished fifth, narrowly ahead of teammate Lando Norris, while Daniel Ricciardo struggled, qualifying 14th, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished ninth.
Piastri had a tight escape in Q1 when he smacked the wall on the final bend, but his car was unharmed.
“There was a little more in my lap, but it was all we could have gotten out of the car. “That wasn’t my best moment, when I hit the wall,” the 22-year-old Australian admitted.
Verstappen, a three-time world champion, set a fastest lap of one minute 27.472 seconds to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by three-tenths of a second, with teammate Sergio Perez, who had been on pole for the previous two years, third in a tense floodlit qualifying session.
Verstappen took his 34th pole position and first at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, but the day’s action was highlighted by British teenager Oliver Bearman’s 11th-place qualifying for Ferrari on his competitive F1 debut.
The 18-year-old was unexpectedly called up earlier in the day to replace appendicitis casualty Carlos Sainz.
Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Aston Martin, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, and Mercedes’ two drivers, George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
Yuki Tsunoda finished tenth for RB, ahead of Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and Bearman.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” remarked Bearman, 18 years old. “It was a fun day.”
Verstappen, who won from fourth on the grid last year, was also pleased. “It was a very good day,” said the Dutchman, who won last weekend’s season opener in Bahrain.
“We improved the car a little bit overnight and that gave me more confidence to attack the high-speed corners.”
Leclerc stated, “I prepared everything for that lap. I hope Carlos recovers quickly, but Ollie has done a great job in just one session and is now up to speed. I’m happy for him.”
Bearman, who had only made his Ferrari debut hours before in final practice, was among the first on the circuit when the lights turned green.
Sainz, who drove in both of Thursday’s practice sessions, had surgery on Friday morning and hopes to recuperate in time for the Australian Grand Prix on March 24.
Between sessions, Audi announced their acquisition of the Sauber team ahead of a 2026 entry, which boosted the Swiss team following Zhou Guanyu’s heavy late accident in third practice.
Kevin Magnussen set an early Q1 marker lap for Haas before Alonso and Verstappen took the lead after 10 minutes, with Bearman holding his own in eighth place, half a second behind.
Mercedes were moving from mediums to softs at this point, but Zhou, whose car was still being serviced, was absent until two minutes before the end of a hectic Q1 finale.
Unfortunately for the Chinese driver, he did not cross the finish line before the checkered flag and did not record a lap time, joining Williams’ Logan Sargeant, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, and Valtteri Bottas in the other Sauber in elimination.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas had a power failure six minutes into the Q2 session, prompting the red flag. He parked at Turn Eight on the outskirts of a run-off area, from which his vehicle was retrieved.
At the restart, Bearman on new softs led the two Mercedes on used softs out, with the teenager locking up and wrecking his first flying lap before Perez and then Verstappen took the lead for Red Bull until Alonso split them.
The champion, seeking his maiden front row start at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, timed 1:28.078, giving him a 0.044 lead over Alonso heading into the final runs, which saw Bearman finish 11th, just 0.036 behind Hamilton.
He was eliminated alongside Williams’ Alex Albon, Magnussen, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, and the unlucky Hulkenberg, no small feat on his debut with F1’s most famous and illustrious team.
“That was a messy session,” commented Bearman, who ‘kissed’ the walls in one section, over Ferrari team radio.
Tsunoda of RB, the disrupter among the regulars, took his projected spot in the top-ten shootout, while Russell set the pace before being overhauled by the Red Bulls, with Perez taking first place until Verstappen surged through in 1:27.472, three tenths ahead of Alonso.
